Chicken and Biscuits director serves up flavor with a side of love for Uptown Players

RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
rich@dallasvoice.com

Director Akin Babatunde is renowned in the local theater world — and beyond. Here, he has already established himself as a premiere director with acclaimed shows at Undermain Theatre, Dallas Theater Center and Stage West. But this week marks a first for Babatunde: “This is my first show with Uptown Players,” he said.

Exciting sounding in his voice, he continued, “I’ve always known and respected their work. And the respect they have given me has been just wonderful.”

Babatunde is not only making his debut at Uptown Players, he’s directing the company’s closing show of the season, which happens to be the regional premiere of Douglas Lyons’ comedy Chicken and Biscuits. The show opens today and runs through Aug. 13 at the Kalita Humphreys Theater.

The story centers on the Jenkins family as family members reunites for a funeral. That gathering ends up being a portal to family secrets, chaos and more.

For Babatunde, the story was a perfect fit.

“This is right up my alley. When I was getting my master’s from UT Dallas in 2008, my thesis was on the mourning process of African-Americans and the structure, humor and tradition of that,” he explained. “Plus, I grew up attending a lot of family funerals, and it really was my first introduction to the beauty of theater. When I read this, I surely knew I was the right one for this.”

There is, Babatunde said, a certain grandeur that accompanies Black funerals. In fact, he added, there’s nothing else quite like it.

“The sending off of a loved one in the African-American experience is unparalleled. There is the tragedy mixed with the pomp and the drama,” he said.

But these funerals remain a very personal experience, too. So when casting happened, Babatunde said, he had to be sure his actors knew the deal.

During the audition process and then callbacks, he had conversations with the actors. When he asked if they had attended a funeral, he said they were very aware of that experience.

“We all had our laughs about that. But from a theatrical standpoint, I want to respect a tradition. It’s not just comedy for comedy’s sake,” he said. “That was the vision I had. We’re not going to just make you laugh. This story is based on love.”

In the show, Rodney Richardson and Blake McNamara play the couple of Kenny and Logan. If there weren’t already drama with the funeral itself, Kenny bringing home his white boyfriend for the first time definitely adds to the drama quotient.

“That is a no-no,” Babatunde said. “In the African-American church, many families don’t talk about those things. So this setting is very true to that.”

In the play, Kenny’s grandfather — the deceased — had accepted Kenny. The rest of the family … well, that was still to be determined.

Babatunde said that the two actors bring a heartfelt touch to their characters. “They give a wonderful peek into that struggle. As the two lovers, they are superb, and when that clash of cultures comes, boy, what a clash,” he said.

“And this still exists in families today. Nobody wants to talk about or condemn it, but the gay presence in the Black church is very much often overlooked. It really can be a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ situation.”

But with all that, Chicken and Biscuits is far from any buzzkill. Babatunde appreciates how Lyons created this piece mixing tragic elements, comedy, absurdism and conflict into one piece.

But the takeaway, he said, is not about any of those elements: “The takeaway is that love transforms all things — different loves like family, heritage, background, relationships; love conquers and resolves all things and I truly believe that.”

For tickets, visit UptownPlayers.org.